Posted on 05/12/2008 10:31:27 AM PDT by BGHater
Did Republican presidential candidate John McCain vote for President George W. Bush in 2000?
Liberal Internet blogger Arianna Huffington says McCain told her he did not. But the Arizona senator says he did vote for Bush, a fellow Republican, in 2000 and campaigned for him all over the country after his own attempt to win the party's nomination failed.
The claims and counterclaims may provide an entertaining distraction from the day-to-day battle for votes for this November's presidential election, when McCain will face one of two Democratic contenders, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.
But Huffington said in an interview the dust-up over the item she posted on her Web site earlier this week has broader meaning than whether or not McCain voted for his rival in the 2000 race for the Republican nomination.
"It's John McCain's relationship with the truth that's at stake here. It's not John McCain's relationship with me," Huffington said.
She said on The Huffington Post -- www.huffingtonpost.com -- this week that McCain told her at a dinner party shortly after the 2000 election that he did not vote for Bush.
A New York Times story about the spat noted other guests at the party said they also heard McCain's comments.
McCain says it never happened and he was loyal to Bush.
"I voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004," he said in an interview with Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor" that aired on Thursday night.
"And not only that, far more important than a vote, I campaigned everywhere in America for him," McCain said. "I enjoyed it. I campaigned with him. I did everything I could to get him elected and re-elected president."
I believe McCain.
I remember McCain being very angry with Bush, and not “making up” with him until after 9/11.
I don’t care. Since we use the Australian Ballot, his vote is secret. McCain should have never answered this or even given it a moments thought and simply said, “My vote is mine, and I don’t have to reveal or justify it to anyone”.
Seeing how McCain laughed during his denial of the Huffingpost allegation, I would bet McCain would refuse a lie-detector test on that question.
He denial/laugh seems very delusory.
Yes. We can’t know how McCain voted, but we can get a pretty good idea of what he said. I think he said it.
That would have served him better than his going round and round before he finally answered the question, trying desperately to not give any answer because McCain doesn't think well on his feet.
Might’ve voted against W in the Primary. Eh?
Ahhh, but he DID HAVE TO if he wanted to be the nominee this time. Don't kid yourself, most politicians campaign for other politicians so they can continue to climb the ladder, and for NO OTHER REASON.
Why would anyone speak to this p.o.s Arianna Huffington?
She is someone because she married some fool?
Sounds like JOhn Kerry the gigalo.
Most anyone would not speak to this p.o.s Arianna Huffington? But McCain is known for eaching across the aisle and playing “decent”....what a fool!
In 2000, Soros stepped up his attack on the status quo – dramatically raising his profile in U.S. electoral politics in the process – by sponsoring the so-called “Shadow Conventions.” Organized by author, columnist, social climber and political gadfly Arianna Huffington, the Shadow Conventions were counter-cultural events that gave a spotlight to critics of the electoral mainstream, most from the far left. In an effort to lure news crews away from the national party conventions, Huffington held her “Shadow Conventions” at the same time and in the same cities as the Republican and Democratic conventions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles respectively.
The largest single donor to the Shadow Conventions was George Soros, who put up about one third of the cost, according to Time magazine.
Third Force
The Shadow Conventions promoted the view that neither Democrats nor Republicans served the interests of the American people. Like the New Left of the 1960s and today’s Green Party, both of which dismiss the major parties as instruments of the “corporate ruling class,” Huffington declared that US politics needed a third force to break the deadlock.
Not all the speakers were hucksters in the Jackson mold, however. Senator John McCain whose campaign finance crusade had put him at odds with both parties was one of the few mainstream politicians to accept Huffington’s invitation to speak.
Was that in 2000 or 2004? What was he promised if he "buried the hatchet" (in President Bush's back) and was that before or after he spoke at the Shadow Party Convention?
That's Huffington's story. Since there is no independent confirmation of this it's her word against his.
If he did say this, then you're right, McCain opened the door and he should take his licks.
IMO McCain is not a Republican in good standing, at least not the kind of Republican(s) that we want representing us.
We may never know the truth. Neither party to this can be trusted. They are both fibbers.
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